Happy Friday!!! Two months ago (Thursday), I went through this to bring a perfect little baby into this world. Crazy how time flies, because I still feel like it was only a few weeks ago that I found out I was pregnant. Anyway, here's the monthly update on little Elsie. I figured that, this time, I'd write her a little letter.

Dear Elsie,
I still look at you every day and find it hard to believe that you're actually mine. I mean, yes, I carried around an extra 45 lbs when you were in my belly, but even that doesn't really seem real. I'm not sure when it will all sink in, but until then I will be in awe.

You are such a chill, easygoing baby. Quite frankly, I'm spoiled by you. You never cry (unless you're in pain or really mad at me for taking longer than five seconds to whip out my boob) and you've always got a big smile on your face. You don't mind chilling on your blanket or in your swing so that I can get a workout in or do some dishes. You have your days where all you want is to be cuddled and I have learned to treasure those times. I may not get anything done, but I've spent hours holding you close to me. Those are hours that I'll never get back, and I'm glad they were spent with you.

You are just fine with letting people other than mom and dad hold you, but you know who we are - especially dad. You get a huge smile on your face when he gets home from work and says hello.

You're quite the chatterbox - even now, as I write this, you're sitting behind me in your pack and play, talking my ear off. I love the sounds you make, I love your giggles (which, by the way, your first one was July 19), and I love that you sing along to our music.

You've gone through a whopping 366 diapers, with a case of 108 opened and about a quarter of the way gone. Thank goodness you're not going through 12 a day anymore, because that was exhausting. You love it when it's time to get a diaper change - you smile and squeal and kick your legs as fast as they'll move. Speaking of diapers, you're FINALLY in a size one!

We haven't had your 2 month appointment yet, but you weigh about 9 lbs 5 oz and are approximately 24 inches long. You're still squeezing into newborn onesies, but I don't think it will be too long before you move on up to 0-3 month. As far as sleepers go, you're almost too long for the 0-3 month ones, so we'll move you up to 3 month sleepers soon, I'm sure. Your little legs and waist are so skinny that I don't think you'll ever be out of newborn pants and skirts. I'm just fine with that, though. I love how tiny you are.

Elsie, I love you more than anything in the world! I love everything about you. Heck, I'm even almost to the point where I don't have a mental breakdown anytime I get your poop on me. And that, my little friend, is progress.

I do think that part of the loss in my hips is my body naturally re-shaping itself. I also think, however, that this process is going a little bit faster than it would if I were not exercising on a regular basis.

I need to get better about walking and jogging, but lately it has just been so dang hot that I have no desire whatsoever to go outside. YUCK!

Anyway.... that's that. Still making progress, which is awesome. I'm really, really proud of myself!

It's that time again...
Grab a button, write a post sharing your deepest, darkest secrets, and link on up! Be sure to visit some of the other blogs here and make new friends! Please and thank you!

1. Instead of doing 30 Day Shred last night, I spent a couple hours editing photos. Oops. Here's one of the pictures from yesterday's shoot. If you want to see more, you can visit my Everyday Adventures Photography Facebook page by clicking "Photography" up there... or just by clicking here. And don't worry... I did get a workout in yesterday - I did C25K.

2. I am sick of all of my clothes. I need someone to help me mix up my wardrobe a little and teach me how to dress myself with what I have. I think it's partially because I still don't quite feel comfortable in a lot of my pre-pregnancy clothes, but I am in a rut!

Hiii guys!!
So first things first... I have to tell you that I stole this post idea from Jennie. I just saw her post and was like, "HEY! I want to write up a list of a bunch of stupid little things that irritate me, too!!"

1. People chewing with their mouth open.

1a. People chewing so loudly that I can hear them. Some people do this even if their mouth is closed. It bugs the crap out of me.

2. Finding clothes/socks on the floor RIGHT NEXT TO THE HAMPER. Okay, I have started to come to terms with the fact that my husband will leave his socks in the office, the kitchen, the living room, pretty much wherever he takes them off. But Michael (since I know you're reading), FOR PETE'S SAKE, when you take your socks off in the bedroom or bathroom, instead of putting them down a foot away from the laundry hamper, PUT THEM IN IT!!!

3. Men that leave the toilet seat up. My husband never leaves the seat up. Ever. I don't know how I got so lucky, but I did. I believe that all men should follow my husband's lead.

4. The fact that yellow starburst and skittles even exist. 5. When I pick the shorter line at Wal-Mart and it ends up taking longer because of the idiocy of either cashier or customer. 6. Wal-Mart in general.7. Humidity. A couple days ago we had 54% humidity, and IT DIDN'T EVEN RAIN!!!

8. Carrots. I've tried to like them, really... but these stupid little veggies will be the bane of my existence. I like them in pot roast and that's about it.

9. People who do not clean up after their pets. 10. People who litter. On a bad day, I once honked at someone to get their attention, then proceeded to yell at them and flip them off because they threw a bag of trash out their window. Am I embarrassed by my behavior? Yes, but holy cow, people who litter make me SO MAD.

Phew, now that that's over.... what are some things that irritate you? Spill it.

Happy Thursday!
Almost through the week, HALLELUJAH! Actually, since I'm not working anymore, I guess it doesn't really matter to me. All I know is that, as the weeks pass, my little girl is slowly getting bigger and bigger, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I love that she is growing up, but I hate it at the same time. AND I'm like, "Where the h-e-double hockey sticks have the last eight weeks gone?!" Life goes by a whole lot quicker these days.

Anyway, speaking of the little one, I found some pictures that do, in fact, prove that she looks like me! We are little twins. :)

Tuesday!!
That day of the week that I update with my workout progress. I will lose this weight, and I will hold myself accountable!!

Tuesday:
- 30 Day Shred

Wednesday:
- 30 Day Shred
- 2.2 mile walk

Thursday:
- 30 Day Shred
- C25K wk 3 day 2 (2.1 miles)

Friday:
- 30 Day Shred
- 2.85 mile walk

Saturday:
- mowed lawn/pulled weeds
- painted outside of the house
** You may not count this as a workout, but I was outside at 6:45 a.m. working my butt off and didn't really stop working until about 4:45 p.m., so I am counting it, dangit!!

Sunday:
- 30 Day Shred

Monday:
- 30 Day Shred (day 10!!)

Measurements: Waist: 30" (down .25" from last week, 1" overall)Hips: 41.5" (down .75" from last week, 1" overall - I will give part of these hip results to time working its charms and my body reshaping itself)Weight: 164.0 lbs (down .8 lbs from last week, 4 lbs since this post, 29 lbs overall)

I'm really happy with these results so far. I'd like to get down to pre-pregnancy weight, but I'm more concerned about getting into my pre-pregnancy jeans, so inches are more important right now.

The day I gave birth, I weighed 193 lbs. I lost 12 of that when I gave birth. Over the next couple of weeks, I lost about 10 lbs of water weight, give or take. Knowing all of that, I am pretty dang proud of myself.

Happy Monday!!!
So I was laying in bed last night trying to sleep when all of a sudden, it hit me - Women are freaking amazing. Seriously. I mean, we all have our moments when we just want to crawl under a rock and never see the light of day again, but in the end, when you really think about it, we are pretty dang awesome. There are plenty of different reasons why each individual woman is awesome, but here are five reasons why all women are awesome.

1. We can bleed for days on end without dying. Can a man do this? No sirree. But women? While women are bleeding constantly, they are doing things like swirling in pretty white dresses, running through fields of flowers, swimming, and going horseback riding (just watch a tampon commercial if you don't believe me).

2. We can grow humans. What's that, hubby? You just grew a handlebar mustache and a mountain man beard for "No Shave November?" Well, that's cool, but I just grew a human... IN MAH BELLAY. No big deal.

3. We have an incredible sense of awareness. Whether it's reading people's emotions, looking at our kids and being able to tell if they've done something naughty, or sensing when other people need us, we are extremely aware of others. I swear this is a woman thing, because as much as I love the man, Mike is freaking oblivious to a lot of things.

4. We can pour milk out of our boobs. Okay, apparently I'm fascinated with our bodily fluids as women, but seriously?? WE CAN FEED OUR BABIES WITH OUR BOOBS. That is freaking insane/weird/awesome/amazing.

5. We can walk around in uncomfortable shoes for hours on end. I will be the first to admit that an overwhelming amount of women's shoes are super uncomfortable. You know what, though?! We still wear them. If I see a cute pair of stilettos that are moderately uncomfortable in the store, I will buy them and I will wear them, dangit! Please note that "moderately uncomfortable in the store" means super uncomfortable when worn for more than 5 minutes. Anyway, men complain if their shoes pinch their toes even a little bit. Wimps.

You know, men are awesome, too - I just felt like pointing out all the cool things about being a woman. I mean, there are days of the month (mostly the ones that coincide with number one) where the phrase "I hate being a woman" comes out of my mouth multiple times. I figure that, this one day, I can sit here and appreciate all the cool things about not being a man.

Hiiii!!!
I don't know if you've forgotten how this thing works (heck, it's been forever - I may have forgotten!), but here's the deal: take a button, write a post about how you still sleep with a nightlight, and link it up for the world to read.

1. I took the leap. I started a little photography business and I have my first paid shoot tonight. I'm SUPER nervous. Fingers crossed that it goes well!

2. I am sort of freaking out about school starting. How am I supposed to do this with a baby?! I'm not only going to be a full-time grad student - I'll be teaching, too. I don't even know my teaching schedule yet and that's sort of really stressing me out.

3. I sometimes wish I could have a do-over of my wedding reception. I was married before pinterest. Because of this, I didn't really have any inspiration. If I could redo it, it would be freaking awesome. Oh, and it would be nice to actually BE at my reception.

4. I am sick of my hair. I don't remember the last time I actually did something with it - it always just gets thrown into a messy bun.

5. I'm cheating. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, that is. I've been drinking V8 Fusion to get my servings of fruits and veggies. Sorry I'm not sorry.

Remember me? I used to blog every day. Then I got pregnant. Then I had a baby. Now you're lucky to hear from me more than once or twice a week.

I'm working on it. I'm not trying to be a witch with a capital B if I don't respond to your comments. Actually, I just went through and wiped my inbox. I just looked at the little thing up in the corner that said, "1 out of 495" and I freaked. I deleted almost EVERYTHING. So don't be hurt or offended, please. I just couldn't take the heat.

This all brings me to my next point. I am going to try to get back into the whole blogging groove. Elsie and I have (more or less) figured out a schedule, and I figured out that I really miss blogging. I needed that time away to figure out this new little human who hangs out with me all day. I needed the time to sort out my own emotions (still a work in progress - these hormones suck). Unfortunately, that did not leave much time (or motivation) to respond to emails.

Starting this week or next, though, I want to be better about blogging. Elsie and Mike will ALWAYS be my number one priority, but I'd like to give this blog more attention. I'd like to network a little bit more and I'd like to get to know YOU better.

So... The first ten people to comment on this post with the link to one blog that may be a little less well known that you think I'd enjoy will get a little spot on my sidebar fo' free. Just make sure you're not a "no-reply blogger" so that I can email you. Please and thanks.

Happy Wednesday!!!
So. I've mentioned on this here blog that I've had issues with breastfeeding (and by issues, I mean that I bawled every single day, dropped the "f bomb" a lot, continually repeated that I hated my life, and yelled about how much I hated breastfeeding). Why didn't I just quit, you ask??

1. Since I opted to quit my full-time job so that I could stay at home, we are po (can't even afford the "o-r," people) and formula is not cheap. If you're not a mom and don't already know this, go to the baby section of Target next time you're there and check it out.

2. I am competitive. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I just kept saying, "If insert name here can do it, I should be able to!"

3. Momma's milk really is better for baby.

So anyway, let me tell you a little bit about what I went through.

In the hospital, Elsie had no problem whatsoever latching on and sucking. Girl has the suction of a freaking hoover, people!! She would get frustrated because the colostrum wouldn't come right away, but she was doing it.

Two days after the c-section (Sunday morning), I woke up and my boobs were, no joke, the size of cantaloupes. They had to be g's, I swear. And when I touched them to figure out what the crap was going on, they were rock hard. Because they were so stretched, poor Elsie couldn't get a latch if you know what I mean! I had no clue what was going on! Apparently I didn't know too much about BFing, because I had no idea that engorgement was a thing.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the lactation consultant in the hospital was awful. She was not helpful at all, and she beat the crap out of my boobs. She forced Elsie to latch before the engorgement was gone, and I ended up with scabbed over and bleeding nipples. She "massaged" the milk out, and was super rough, so I literally had bruises everywhere. In the end, she gave me a nipple shield and didn't really tell me anything about it except how to use it.

Fast forward three weeks, and I am desperate to get off the shield. This stupid piece of plastic was the bane of my existence, I tell you! Elsie would suck so hard that she pulled my nipple through the little holes on the shield. It hurt like the mother effing dickens. I was about to throw in the towel and say, "the hell with it" and pump exclusively, but holy balls, pumping is a ton of work.

I looked in my handy dandy breastfeeding book, asked for advice on Facebook, and saw a couple lactation consultants; nothing worked. NOTHING. I was on the verge of giving up when we left for Utah. When we were in Utah, though, we stopped by Mike's brother's house. Out of nowhere, Matt's (Mike's bro) wife asked me if I was breastfeeding and how it was going. I told her that it wasn't going great and she offered to help me out. You must understand something - she and I have had our differences and have not always gotten along the best. This would be why Mike and I were both shocked when I said, "Yes."

People, this is when it all changed. A complete 180. Amy taught me something that she likes to call, "The Perfect Latch." Out of the three lactation consultants I saw, none of them taught me this latch! This latch was seriously a friggin' miracle. If only I had known about this from the beginning, my life would have been so. much. easier. We were completely off the nipple shield from that day on. The soreness went away, I don't cry about breastfeeding anymore, and I can go places and not worry about how I'm going to feed my child if she gets hungry and I don't have a bottle or the shield. If you are breastfeeding and have tried everything and want to rip your hair out, let me know and I can get you in contact with her.

I'm not really one of the sentimental people who wanted to breastfeed because of the bond between mama and baby - my motives were purely financial. That's not to say that I haven't noticed the special bond it creates, because I have! I just generally don't like to get all mushy gushy about that stuff.

So there you have it - I no longer wish that I didn't have boobs (although I am looking forward to the day that my husband can take care of all the feedings), and I can do it, just like all those other moms. Oh, and I'm saving a butt load of money. Win.

And.... just for good measure, here's a picture of me and my little bestie.

I know what you're thinking - Ugh, ANOTHER freakin' workout update. Get a life and blog about something I CARE about, alreaady!
I know, I know. But seriously. We were gone AGAIN from Wednesday to Sunday (this time in Sioux City visiting Mike's parents), so I'm proud of myself for getting anything done. And once you scroll down to the bottom, you'll know why!Tuesday:
-- 2 miles with C25K
-- Day 1 of the 30 Day Shred

I will have you know that I lost that weight even WITH eating BBQ three times, Mexican food (a HUGE burrito), and lots of cookies. Working out really does wonders, people! I can't imagine what my results would be if I was actually paying attention to what I eat! I've heard that breastfeeding helps, but I hadn't really lost too much weight before I started working out, so I don't know how much I believe that. Everyone is different, though, so there you go.

Oh, and this is pretty embarrassing, but here are my "before" pictures for the 30 Day Shred (ignore the messy house, please... we still haven't figured out how to hide those hideous cords!). I really want to see how much of a difference this program makes! I will take pictures on Days 10, 20, and 30 so that I can see results as I go.